Thursday, July 05, 2012

AGAIN TONIGHT, BECAUSE OF THE HEAT I THOUGHT I WOULD JUST THROW A FEW SNOW PICTURES FROM MY FILES AT YOU

Being stuck in the house by the summer's heat isn't much different than being stuck in the house by the winter's cold. Stuck is stuck, unless of course one want's to go out bundled up in a cumbersome suit of warm clothing to make snowmen, snow angels, shovel endless piles of snow & throw snow balls at unsuspecting neighbors. Guess that's one way to ramp up the excitement factor a measly notch. Not much different with the summer's heat & high humidity factors. Go outside, stand still until your clothes stick to you while counting the brow dripping beads of sweat falling before your eyes. And you can watch the number of insect bites mushrooming on your bare arms like some kind of instant measles break out.

But, take heed. With the country caught in the searing grip of this miserable heat wave you would not expect one of our fellow RV'ers to be caught up in cold snowy winter conditions. But, that's just where Joe & Nancy from the RVING BEACH BUMS are or were. And no, they are not in the Swiss Alps or Antarctica somewhere. They are right there in the good old U.S. of A:)) Awwwww, the advantages of full timing eh.

MORNING AFTER A NIGHT SNOW FALL AT OUR HOUSE

Note to neighbor Monica out there in the Canadian west somewhere. Despite the heavy downpour Wednesday morning your place is totally dry. No signs of any roof leaks anywhere, including the sun porch:))

LOOKING SOUTH ALONG THE LAKE HURON SHORELINE…DETROIT IS DOWN THERE SOMEWHERE

Pheebs is pretty excited today because her doggy Pals, Stella & Guinness are coming for a week-end sleep over. Some may remember Stella & Guinness being here for a sleep over about a month or so ago. Just like old times with our original Bunch, we will have ourselves quite a joyous circus going on:))

THIS LARGE LAKE FREIGHTER SPENT THE WINTER AT ANCHOR IN THE GODERICH HARBOR

How refreshing this afternoon to spend a couple quality hours with our TV set. Instead of the usual onslaught of television garbage, I watched a Discovery channel National Geographic show called 'Earth From Space.' How nice to be educationally entertained for a change with superb graphics, photography, music, & intelligent narration. The countless hours, weeks & years that go into these National Geographic specials are nothing short of heroic. It's too bad this kind of quality television is buried so deep beneath so much other television garbage.

<<< ENTRANCE GATES TO GODERICH’S ROTARY COVE ALONG THE SHORES OF LAKE HURON

My ideas have sure changed about landscaping over the years. Gone are my golf green lawns, razor edged flowerbeds with perfectly trimmed & shaped shrubs carefully spaced. I was totally into the standard suburban yardscaping from the mid 70's to the early 90's. Even had the Stratford Lawns & Gardens club tour the grounds one warm sunny summer afternoon back in about 1978. But, it was our years spent living in the free flowing natural countryside that eventually changed all that. Gone are the days of perfectly spaced flowers & shrubs. Gone is the weed free perfect lawn & who cares if a flowerbed does not have a perfect edge on it anymore. And so what if the trees & shrubs all kind of mash in together. It's my idea of jungle gardening & I love it. Besides, we are not allowed to put up fences here so planting a thick green belt all around us was our only chance at gaining ourselves any kind of welcome privacy.

Plan to somehow do the same thing with our Arizona house as well but not sure how yet because we are not there in the summer to keep things watered. If it wasn't so expensive to throw up a 6 foot wooden fence around our entire one acre we would certainly do that. A solid fence has additional advantages to a wire fence. Nothing is going to slither or crawl through it & nothing with the exception of deer are going to jump over it. Deer are welcome of course. With a fence, one can create nice desert scapes within & I prefer the background of a solid wooden fence rather than a neighbor's house, garage or yard. I would like to try my hand at a little water garden patio type sanctuary with the hopes of attracting area birds too. A solidly fenced in yard would be much safer for all concerned & especially the Pheebs. Anyway, just a few far away thoughts, hopes, & dreams of a different place at a different time.....on a hot sultry summer’s eve.

HERE I AM WITH MAX & MOTOR IN MY PRE-BEARD DAYS ENJOYING A BACK YARD WINTER'S DAY COFFEE…FEBRUARY 2006…THE MOUSTACHE HAS BEEN HANGING ON MY FACE SINCE 1969:))

GROANER'S CORNER:(( It is so hot that:

- Farmers are feeding their chickens crushed ice to keep them from laying hard boiled eggs.

- Cows are giving evaporated milk

-The trees are whistlin' for the dogs.

- Even the sun was looking for some shade!

- All the water buffalo at the zoo evaporated.

- Robins have to pick up the worms with potholders.

- Saw a fire hydrant chasing a dog.

- I want to take off my skin and sit in my bones..

- My thermometer goes up to “Are you kidding me?!

And it's no wonder a couple of States have been imposing water restrictions.....

-Michigan: American cars must not be washed more than once a week. Washing Japanese cars is strictly prohibited. German & North Korean cars may be driven into the lake. - Texas: Illegal aliens are not allowed to drink American water. They must bring their own.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Tourists see the world, travelers experience it. - Home is where your pet is:))

- "If having a soul means being able to feel love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals are better off than a lot of humans." (James Herriot)

- The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails -William Arthur Ward

WOW, I wouldn't have known you,,,,,I would have passed you by on the street and had no idea it was you....... You look good, but I'm used to the beard so I like that better.....I had a full beard for a long time....... I enjoyed your groaner!!:-):-);-)

So glad we have a nice shady spot with a bit of a breeze, uncrowded pool to keep cool. Just 40 miles south of you. I will take this weather over the cold winter anytime. Thou, my wife is not real crazy about it.Keep cool.

RE: fencing! Have you considered the most popular fencing in the southwest??? Adobe??? I'm sure you have seen the thick adobe wall fencing in the southwest. It is fast and inexpensive! You use bales of hay! Just place the bales of hay any way you want them, wavy or straight... whatever and have your stucco guys come back and stucco them! They last forever and are wayyyy cheaper than chain link or wood or wire fencing! You can even make them wavy at the top or with peep holes in them.. you are only limited by your imagination!Geri

I am one of those weirdos that likes both the hot sun and the cold snow...one of the reasons we moved to Alberta.I still somewhat like the putting green lawn and razor edged beds, but finding the older I get, the less important it is. As long as the yard is tidy, I'm happy.Stay cool there, thank goodness for A/C, the humidity in Ontario is wicked!! The heat has found us here on the prairie and I'm ready to get out there and enjoy!

AL'S CAMERA EQUIPMENT

A sometimes asked question readers have about my blog is what kind of a camera do I use. Well I have 8 of them and use them all. Five Nikon DSLR's, two quality Sony point and shoots plus one older Canon point and shoot.

'UPDATE':: July 2017 Thanks to a very generous blog reader I have been able to update my Nikon camera equipment and supplement my camera gear with a couple additional fine Sony cameras as well.I now have a 'donated' Nikon D7200 sporting my new Nikkor 18-300 3.5 zoom lens. Also have picked up a new Nikkor 1.8 primary 35mm lens. In addition I also now have a Sony RX100-3 camera as well as a Sony Exmore Cybershot. I have given my Canon Powershot point and shoot camera to a neighbor.

- In early 2017 I replaced my Nikon D-90 camera with a new D-3400 after the 'auto focus' feature on my aging D-90 quit working. The Nikon D-90 had been my work horse camera sporting a Nikkor 18-55mm 1:3.5-5.6 lens. I used this camera for most of my landscapes and I now have it set up for night photography where 'auto focus' is not necessary.

-My older faithful and favorite Nikon D-40 finally packed it in during the summer of 2015 and I replaced it with a new Nikon D-3100.

- Previous to my Nikon D-90, most of my photos were taken with my old faithful Nikon D-50 from 2006 to early 2011 whereupon the D-50 suffered a rather gruesome death when it fell off a table onto a cement porch in southeastern Arizona. The 70-300mm lens on the camera survived the fall but the D-50 did not. My Nikkor lenses are interchangable between the D-90 the D-3100 and the D-3400.